Saddam basks in poll glory

SADDAM HUSSEIN has won another seven-year term as Iraqi president in a referendum in which he was the only candidate, taking 100% of the vote.

All 11,445,638 of the eligible voters cast ballots, said Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council.

"This is a unique manifestation of democracy which is superior to all other forms of democracies even in these countries which are besieging Iraq and trying to suffocate it," he said yesterday, apparently referring to the US.